Paper backlash mechanism



Aug. 16, 1966 GRAHAM ET AL 3,266,719

PAPER BACKLASH MECHANISM Filed Sept. 15, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS JOHN E. GRAHAM FRANS G. A. DE LAAT 074M124, viim A TTORN E KS Aug. 16, 1966 GRAHAM ET AL 3,266,719

PAPER BACKLASH MEGHANI SM Filed Sept. 15, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n m 2 r u m :9 Ti. Q 2 LJ- INVENTORS 9 JOHN E. GRAHAM w BY FRANS e. A. DE LAAT A T7 OR NE Y5 United States Patent 3,266,719 PAPER BACKLASH MECHANISM John E. Graham, Huntington Beach, and Frans G. A. de Laat, North Hollywood, Calif., assignors to Sperry Rand Corporation, New York, N.Y., acorporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 15, 1964, Ser. No. 396,542 12 Claims. (Cl. 235--60.51)

printing mechanism, wherein the various transactions and indications of transactions provided by the machine are printed upon the paper strip, and wherein a window is provided for viewing the indicia printed upon the paper strip, it is very often desirable to insert into the printed portion of the strip various handwritten notes which might be pertinent to the particular transaction which is recorded therein. However, movement of the paper strip presents the problem of maintaining the registration of the strip within the printing mechanism. If the strip is advanced by an undetermined amount, a return thereof to its previous position of registration within the printing mechanism will be virtually impossible. It is therefore imperative to a proper recording of machine transactions that advancement of the strip is carefully controlled so that a return thereof to its previous position may be effected with accuracy.

Since an advancing of the tape is very often desirable in the middle of a transaction, improper return of the tape to its previous position will result in mis-registration in the printing mechanism and possible mis-alignment of the printed indicia on the tape. In addition, since the transactions which are formed on the machine must be carried out not only with accuracy but also with speed, it is desirable to provide a means for returning the advanced paper strip to its registration position automatically upon actuation of the machine so as to eliminate the need for the operator of the machine to manually return the strip to its registration position. In this way the possibility that the operator will forget to return the tape after it has been advanced is eliminated, providing an accuracy which can be attained only by mechanical control.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple mechanism capable of actuation from the keyboard of a computing type cash register which will effect a measured advancement of the detail paper strip upon which machine transactions are recorded.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a mechanism of the type described for advancing the detail paper strip in a cash register type calculating machine by a measured distance which is also capable of automatically returning the tape to its previously registered position upon actuation of the machine.

It is still another object of the instant invention to provide a mechanism of the type described for advancing the detail paper strip of a cash register type calculating machine which is accessible from the keyboard of the machine and is manually operated.

It is still a further object of the instant invention to provide a mechanism of the type described for advancing the detail paper strip of a cash register type calculating machine which effects automatic return of said strip to its previous position with high speed and accuracy upon actuation of the machine.

Patented August 16, 1966 It is further object of the instant invention to provide a mechanism of the type described for advancing the detail paper strip -of a cash register type calculating machine which will maintain the tape in its advanced position until actuation of the machine occurs.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for purposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side view through a section of the keyboard of the calculating machine illustrating the paper backlash mechanism in accordance with one embodiment of the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the mechanism of FIG- URE 1 after manual actuation thereof; and

FIGURE 3 is a side view of the mechanism of the invention in the operative position illustrating automatic release thereof.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to designate like parts, and more particularly to FIGURE 1, which shows a side view of a calculating type cash register. Reference numeral 1 designates the outer keyboard casing toward the top of the machine wherein the printing mechanism of the machine is embodied. The casing 1 contains therein a Plexiglas window 2 for viewing the paper strip or tape P as it passes from the supply roll 5 through the printing mechanism (not shown) to the paper take-up roll 3. Just above the Plexiglas window 2 in the casing 1 is an open writing space 4 which provides access to the printed strip P and by means of which the operator of the machine may insert handwritten notes upon the strip.

In its normal course of travel, the strip P passes from a spring loaded supply spool 5 through the printing mechanism (not shown) and passes beneath the writing space 4 and the Plexiglas Window 2, being guided by support rollers 6. The tape passes down past a guide roller 7 to take-up spool 3, which is indexed one space for each cycle of machine operation.

A handle 9 protrudes above the keyboard casing 1 and is mounted on a slide bar 11 having a pair of studs 12 and 13 which are guided for longitudinal movement by a slot 14 in a slide frame 15. The slide frame 15 is securely mounted in a side plate (not shown) of the machine casing. A pivot arm 16, pivotally mounted on a fixed shaft 17, has its upper end loosely connected at 18 to one arm of the slide bar 11 while at its lower end, the arm 16 carries a camming member 19 pivotally mounted on a stud 21. The camming member 19 is U-sha'ped at the end which engages the stud 21 and carries on the upper portion of the U-shaped end a camming surface 20 which contacts a follower stud 23 on paper actuating member 22; At

the extreme lower end of the pivot arm 16 is a latching lip 31 which serves to maintain the arm 16 in operative position as will be described hereinafter. Member 22 is pivotally mounted on shaft 17 and is biased clockwise by spring 54 connected to the member and to a frame pin 30.

The camming member 19 has a tail 24 which rides on a stud 25 of a cam line control lever 26. The tail 24 is held in engagement with the stud through the tension of spring 27, connected between the camming member 19 and a frame pin 36. The member 26 is rotatably mounted on a fixed shaft 37 and contains a lever arm 38 which is connected via a link 40 to the main cam line (not shown) which actuates the control member 26 upon actuation of the machine.

Also rotatably mounted on shaft 37 is a latch member 32 which contains a latching surface 41 and a tail 42 which is normally biased against a frame pin 43 by a spring 33 connected between the frame pin 43 and a stud 44 carried on the tail 42. The member 26 also carries a lever arm 39 which provides a stud 34 which normally rests against the surface 35 of tail 42.

In order to provide advancement of the tape 5 from 'the printing mechanism past the writing space 4 in a keyboard casing 1, the operator of the machine draws the handle 9 downward moving the slide bar 11 longitudinally in the slot 14 and thereby effecting counterclockwise rotation of the pivot arm 16. As the arm 16 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, the cam 19 will also rotate with it against the spring tension of spring 27 and spring 54 due to stud 21 (FIGURE 2), connected between the lever arm 16 and the camming member 19, driving the paper actuation member 22 by way of camming surface 20 in a counterclockwise direction thereby bringing roller 8 at the extreme end of paper actuating member 22 into engagement with the paper strip 5 to thereby carry the paper strip to the position shown in FIGURE 2. The change in the path of the paper strip around and past the guide roller 7 will advance the strip past the open writing space 4 against the tension of the spring loaded supply roller 5.

As the pivot arm 16 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction and only after the handle 9 has been shifted its full extent, a latching lip 31 carried at the end of lever arm 16 will, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, latch upon the latching surface 41 of latch member 32 which is yieldably held in its illustrated position by the spring 33 thereby locking the strip P, pivot lever or arm 16, and member 22 each in its advanced position permitting access to the tape through the window 4 until the mechanism is released.

When the machine starts its next cycle, the link 40 is shifted to the left by the main cam line (not shown) rocking member 26 in a clockwise direction so that the stud 25 will pivot the cam 19 in a clockwise direction by means of the tail 24 and against the bias of spring 27. FIG- URE 3 illustrates the position of the various members after the main cam line has rocked the member 26. The pivoting of cam 19 will release the paper actuating member 22 by disengaging the camming surface 20 from the follower stud 23. Spring 54 will therefore rotate the paper actuating member 22 in a clockwise direction returning it to its original position. The paper strip 5 will therefore be released and will return to its initial register position due to the spring action of the supply roll.

When the member 26 rocks to release the paper strip, the stud 34 carried by the lever arm 39 of member 26 will act against the edge 35 of tail 42 rocking it clockwise against the bias of spring 33 to release the arm 16 and its associated slide member 11 for movement back to their original positions; however, the paper actuating member will be freed completely a short time prior to release of the arm 16 so that return of said strip is eifected in an especially rapid manner, while surface 41 of latch member 32 keeps pivot arm 16 advanced in its operative position for this short time.

It is therefore seen that the mechanism of the instant inventionprovides a means by which the operator of the machine may manually advance the paper tape either for purposes of inspection or for the purpose of inserting handwritten notes thereon and this advancement is carried out in a controlled manner so that the tape is advanced by a prescribed amount determined and fixed by the amount of rotation of the paper actuating member 22. The mechanism according to the instant invention also provides a means for locking the paper actuation member in its advanced postion so that the paper tape will also remain in its advanced position permitting an inspection or insertion of written material thereon over an extended period of time As a third and very important feature of the invention, the mechanism for advancing and locking the paper tape in advanced position also provides a means 7 connected to the main cam line of the machine for automatically releasing the advancing mechanism thereby permtiting the spring loaded supply roll to return the paper tape to its original registered position upon actuation of the machine.

The mechanism in accordance with the instant invention is simple and uncomplicated, very easy to operate and is capable of advancing and returning the tape to its original position with accuracy.

It should be obvious from the foregoing description of the invention that various changes obvious to one of ordinary skill may be made in the specific embodiment described without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore it is to be understood that the invention is limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine with each cycle of machine operation and is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, a supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said supply spool being spring loaded to produce a tension in said strip, paper actuating means movable to an advanced position for advancing said strip from an unadvanced position a pre-determined amount against the bias of said supply spool, latch means for maintaining said paper actuating means in its advanced position, and means for automatically releasing said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.

2. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine with each cycle of machine operation and .is adapted to receive a printed record of machine trans-actions, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, a supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said supply spool being spring loaded to produce atension in said strip and said take-up spool being driven against the bias of said supply spool so that said detail paper strip is indexed one space during each cycle of machine operation, paper actuating means movable to an advanced position for manually advancing said strip from an unadvanced position a predetermined amount against the bias of said supply spool, latch means for maintaining said paper actuating means in its advanced position, and means for automatically releasing said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to its unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.

3. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine with each cycle of machine operation and is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, a supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said supply spool being spring loaded toproduce a tension in said strip and said take-up spool being driven against" operating said paper actuating means, latch means for.

locking said paper actuating means upon displacement of said paper strip, and means for automatically releasing.

said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle by displacing said latch means so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to its unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.

4. -In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine with each cycle of machine operation and is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transact-ions, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, a supply spool and .a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said supply spool being spring loaded to produce a tension in said strip and said take-up spool being driven against the bias of said supply spool so that said detail paper strip is indexed one space during each cycle of machine operation, paper actuating means for altering the norm-a1 path of said strip a predetermined amount against the bias of said supply spool, means for manually operating "said paper actuating means, latch means for locking said paper actuating means in its operative position, and means for automatically releasing said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to its unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool, said automatic release means :including means tor displacing said latch means such that said paper actuating means is released independently of said means for manually operating said paper actuating means.

5. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine by a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising a spring-loaded supply spool and a take-up spool tor said detail paper strip, paper actuating means for altering the normal path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writ-ing space from an unadvanced position, means associated with said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means to an advanced position, latch means for locking said paper actuating means in said advanced position, and lever means for automatically releasing said latch means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.-

6. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine by a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising a spring loaded supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said takeup spool being driven against the bias of said supply spool so as to index said paper strip one space for each cycle of machine operation, paper actuating means for altering the normal path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space from an unadvanced position, means accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means, latch means for maintaining said paper actuating means in its advanced position, and lever means for automatically releasing said paper actuating means by displacing said latch means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.

7. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine by a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper blacklash mechanism comprising a spring-loaded supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said take-up spool being driven against the bias of said supply spool so as to index said paper strip one space for each cycle of machine operation, paper actuating means for altering the normal path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space from an unadvanced position, means accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means to an advanced position, latch means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said advanced position by locking said means for advancing said paper actuating means in its operative position, and lever means for automatically releasing said latch means including means for disengaging said means for advancing said paper actuating means from said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadv-anced position in response to the bias of said supply spool.

8. -In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine by a predetermined space with each cyrcle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a wind-ow and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising a spring-loaded supply spool and a take-up spool for said detail paper strip, said takeup spool being driven against the bias .of said supply spool so as to index said paper strip one space for each cycle of machine operation, paper actuating means for displacing said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space by a predetermined fixed amount from an unadvanced position, means. accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means to an advanced A position, latch means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said advanced position by locking said means for advancing said paper actuating means in its operative position, and control lever means for automatically releasing said latch means and for disengaging said means for advancing said paper actuating means from said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadvanced position in response to the bias of said supply spool, said control lever means and latch means maintaining said means for manually advancing said paper actuating means in its operative position a short time while said paper actuating means is released.

9. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, means for advancing said detail paper strip through said machine over a predetermined path, paper actuating means for altering the predetermined path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space to an altered position, means associated with said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means, said advancing means including pivot lever means and camming means connected to said pivot lever means and operatively associated with said paper actuating means for rotation thereof from a first position out of contact with said paper strip to a second position in contact with said paper strip in said altered position, latch means engageable with said pivot lever means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said second position, and control lever means for automatically releasing said latch means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to its predetermined path.

10. In a calculating machine of the .cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record or machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, means for advancing said detail paper strip through said machine over a predetermined path, paper actuating means for altering the predetermined path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space by a fixed amount to an altered position, means accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means, said advancing means including pivot lever means and camming means connected to said pivot ilever means and operatively engaging with said paper actuating means for rotation thereof from a first position out of contact with said paper strip to a second position in contact with said paper strip in said altered position upon operation of said pivot lever means, latch means engageable with said pivot lever means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said second position by locking said pivot lever means in its operative position, and control lever means for automatically releasing said latch means including means for disengaging said camming means from said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to its predetermined path, said paper actuating means being normally biased in said first position.

11. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, means for advancing said detail paper strip through said machine over a predetermined path, paper actuating means for altering the predetermined path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space from an unadvanced position by a fixed amount to an altered position, means accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means, said advancing means including pivot lever means and camming means connected to said pivot lever means and operatively engaging with said paper actuating means for rotation thereof from a first position out of contact with said paper strip to a second position in contact with said paper strip in said altered position upon operation of said pivot lever means, latch means engageable with said pivot lever means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said second position by locking said pivot lever means in its operative position, and control lever means for automatically releasing said latch means including means for disengaging said camming means from said paper actuating means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit said detail paper strip to return to said unadvanced position along its predetermined path, said control lever means being as sociated with said latch means for maintaining said pivot lever means in its operative position a short time While said paper actuating means is released, said paper actuating means being normally biased in said first position.

12. In a calculating machine of the cash registering type having a detail paper strip which is advanced through the machine a predetermined space with each cycle of machine operation and which is adapted to receive a printed record of machine transactions, said machine having a keyboard including a window and an open writing space under which said paper strip is guided, a paper backlash mechanism comprising, means for advancing said detail paper strip through said machine over a predetermined path, paper actuating means for altering the predetermined path of said detail paper strip so as to advance said strip past said window and said open writing space by a fixed amount to an altered position, means accessible from said keyboard for manually advancing said paper actuating means, said advancing means including pivot lever means and cam-ming means rotatab ly mounted on said pivot lever means and releasably maintained in engagement with said paper actuating means for rotation thereof from a first position out of contact with said paper strip to a second position in contact with said paper strip in said altered position upon operation of said pivot lever means, latch means engageable with said pivot lever means for maintaining said paper actuating means in said second position, and control lever means for automatically releasing said pivot lever means by displacing said latch means upon initiation of a machine cycle so as to permit saiddetail paper strip to return to its predetermined path, said control lever means including means for actuating said camming means so as to release said paper actuating means, said means for actuating said cannning means operating said latch means after freeing said paper actuating means from said camming means to maintain said pivot lever means in its operative position a short time while said paper actuating means is released.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,708,284 4/1929 Sundstrand 235 5s 2,059,251 11/1936 Lasker 235-58 2,341,630 2/1944 Lambert 23558 3,217,855 11/1965 Haberkorn et al 197114 LOUIS J. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN CALCULATING MACHINE OF THE CASH REGISTERING TYPE HAVING A DETAIL PAPER STRIP WHICH IS ADVANCED THROUGH THE MACHINE WITH EACH CYCLE OF MACHINE OPERATION AND IS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A PRINTED RECORD OF MACHINE TRANSACTIONS, A PAPER BLACKLASH MECHANISM COMPRISING, A SUPPLY SPOOL AND A TAKE-UP SPOOL FOR SAID DETAIL PAPER STRIP, SAID SUPPLY SPOOL BEING SPRING LOADED TO PRODUCE A TENSION IN SAID STRIP, PAPER ACTUATING MEANS MOVABLE TO AN ADVANCED POSITION FOR ADVANCING SAID STRIP FROM A UNADVANCED POSITION A PRE-DETERMINED AMOUNT AGAINST THE BIAS OF SAID SUPPLY SPOOL, LATCH MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID PAPER ACTUATING MEANS IN ITS ADVANCED POSITION, AND MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY RELEASING SAID PAPER ACTUATING MEANS UPON INITIATION OF A MACHINE CYCLE SO AS TO PERMIT 